Black Cumin Seed Oil As A Nutritional Supplement

I booked a treatment on Wahanda and went to Edgeware Road for the first time. The area and it's shops intrigue me. So exotic, it's like being in the middle east. Similar to my Oz home in Auburn, I went browsing in the grocery stores.

I came in looking for tea and ended up with Alwazah tea which was very cheap (79p or 25 tea bags) and a bottle of black seed oil (100ml for £3.99). I've heard about black seed oil and I couldn't resist trying atleast one beauty product behind the counter.

The brand is "Sofra" from Pakistan and the shop guy assured me that it's decent although the packaging is of poor quality. There's a leaflet inside with arabic and english instructions. The seal on the cap is a bit of a joke. The safety ring, or the thing that supposed to remain on the neck after you've opened the bottle, comes off with the cap so you can't tell if it's been tampered or not. But at least it's in a dark glass bottle and it's supposedly cold pressed virgin oil.

I was planning on applying it on my scalp but after doing some research on the internet, I figure I'm better off ingesting this stuff, assuming it's pure.

The list of benefits in the leaflet are long, ranging from weight loss, increasing sperm generation, supporting the immune system, recovery of hair loss to curing asthma. This oil is said to be rich with anti-oxidants, vitamins, essential fatty and amino acids. It has been used for over 2,500 years as a food supplement or a cure-all. There are also scientific studies on it's effect on cancer cells but nothing substantial as I figure it would have been more well known if it was actually effective.

The oil is pale brown and I poured it in a teaspoon and drank it straight. The instructions say to take 2 teaspoons morning and night but I'm generally healthy and too lazy to do this. The smell and taste is fine in my opinion. As long as you're not expecting it to taste good that is. The scent is similar to it's taste, light fragrant onion. It's not bitter and leaves a slight oniony after taste. I didn't need a chaser like honey or an acidic drink but it helps it go down.

I'm going to take a teaspoon at night and will add to this post with results when the bottle runs out.

Just to note I put some oil on my eczema and there was no positive effect. I think there was even a slight reaction. Also I put some on the ends of my hair and it felt sticky and smelt like onion. I will not be using this oil topically!